The drama brewing among Cineworld shareholders was cut short at today's AGM, as a slim majority of investors approved proposals to award the cinema chain's boss a maximum pay packet of more than £3m.

Cineworld's chief executive Moshe Greidinger could see his pay rise by up to 37.8 per cent under the new remuneration policy that was passed today – a move which Cineworld justified due to the increased "scale and complexity" of the business following its acquisition of US rival Regal earlier this year.

Shareholder advisory group ISS had recommended shareholders vote down the remuneration policy, saying that the Greidinger family already "have a significant stake in the business and it is entirely justified to question the motivational impact of an additional 100 per cent of salary as bonus".

In a statement following the AGM, Cineworld said: "Following a detailed round of shareholder consultation and engagement, we note that shareholders approved our new remuneration policy.

"However, we also recognise that a significant minority of shareholders voted against it. The board believes that this new policy is fundamental in supporting the delivery of our strategy following the company's acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group earlier this year."

The business also released a first-quarter trading update today, which showed group revenues up 6.7 per cent on a constant currency basis. However most of this was from the US, as the UK and Ireland and central and eastern Europe and Israel all saw revenues shrink by more than two per cent.

A number of "exciting" films were still due to be aired in the second quarter and second half of 2018, Cineworld noted, including Deadpool 2, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.